Expressive Arts | SoulCollage® | Creative Playshops

Summertime Musings…

“Then followed that beautiful season… Summer….Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscapeLay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Blue skies

It’s a beautiful day here – summers in Alberta are not to be missed! After yesterday’s rain, all is lush and green and growing. I’m writing this from my front porch, enjoying the sun’s warmth, the sound of wind rustling through the trees, birds singing their sweet, happy songs, water flowing in the fountain beside me, and the scent of this potted jasmine is exquisitely fragrant. Ahhhh…..

Jasmine – ahhh

I was going to write a post about some of my recent art-making: journal pages, collages, etc, or about several of the art swaps I’ve been participating in, or just share a photo or two and leave it at that. However, none of those posts got written, and the photos will wait for another time.

Hanging baskets of flowers

When so much of what you do takes place in the studio, or with small groups, witnessing their discovery and opening to creative play, we sometimes forget that creative expression also happens in the everyday, simple tasks that we take for granted.

A shady spot under the tree

Take my garden, for instance, which is a thing of beauty (in the eye of the beholder, of course (smile). Last month, I began digging up plants and shrubs from the backyard and moving them to the front in preparation for a new fence and landscape work. Friends were invited to help themselves, and even a 12′ Laurel Leaf willow tree that stood where the proposed garden shed is going has found a new home.

Bridal wreath spirea

I moved things that don’t like being moved once they’re firmly rooted in place. Took a chance, rather than risk their being trampled by foot or machine.
(so many metaphors and similarities to life are found in gardens and gardening, hm? you recognize them, I’m sure)

Pink peony

White rose

Purple/white iris

Over-crowding may become an issue – things were tucked amongst established plantings, but for now, all seem to be thriving in their temporary, eastern exposure.

Daisy’s

My vegetable garden was also re-located; it’s now between the house and fence, and the tomatoes, beans, zucchini, herbs and flowering vines are loving this south-facing, well-protected environment. It’s a smaller patch, but that’s okay – we’ll still get to enjoy fresh-picked vegetables and herbs well into the fall.

New vegetable garden – going vertical

Over-wintered rosemary

Green tomatoes…soon to be red and plentiful

Mint: for pineapple & mint infused water and tea

(oh! – and me without my camera handy! a large dragonfly just perched on a twig nearby – so delicate and lovely)

Come sit a spell!

So this post is winding down, because I’m spending more time daydreaming, listening, and enjoying the creations of the master gardener – nature in all its wonderment. It’s good – it’s what we’re supposed to do in this too-short season in northern Alberta. Nothing poignant, witty or wise to share…just musings from the porch on a warm summer day.

What’s your favourite summer past-time? How do you hold these memories of things that are all-too-soon gone’? Do share…